Former San Antonio Spurs guard T.J. Ford may be retired from the NBA but that doesn’t mean he will be away from the game of basketball.

Ford is set to be a volunteer assistant coach with the Spurs’ D-League affiliate Austin Toros.

“I’ll look at it from another perspective,” said Ford, 28. “I’m really starting at the bottom. I’m not sure where I’m headed. But I’m headed in the right direction.”

Ford said he plans to use his time as a Toros coach — a position he compared to “an internship” that could lead to a second profession — to plan the rest of his career.

“I retired prematurely,” he said Thursday night. “I’ve been around basketball my entire life. I feel I can do something. I feel I can give back to the game.”

And give back he will.

The Toros are a young squad and seeing how Spurs rookie Cory Joseph is in Austin developing his game, Ford is the perfect mentor. And not only to Joseph, other guards such as Justin Dentmon will benefit from Ford’s NBA experience. If any ex-Spurs player who can one day be a coach in the NBA is definitely Ford.

“The Spurs organization was great to me,” Ford said. “I have a lot of knowledge that I want to share, hopefully to help someone live their dream and make it to the NBA.”